I am a sales nerd, and compelling performance really fires me up.
Attended the NEHRA conference in Dedham, MA last week and was treated to an amazing presentation. Considering that it took place during the last session of the day makes it all the more remarkable. As you can tell from recent posts I am all about timing in selling interactions – and yes, giving a presentation, even when it is not overtly selling, is selling!
Kris’ presentation on social media was timely, thought-provoking and note-worthy. Now, while the material was interesting the phenomenal aspect of the presentation for me was the way Kris executed it.
Kris was part of a two-person team presenting on the subject; she waited patiently to the side of the podium as her colleague spoke. This alone can be a nerve-racking experience…waiting for your opportunity, running through your presentation in your mind…worrying that you’re forgetting something…!
Twenty minutes into the session Kris was introduced to the audience. Sharply dressed and confident in demeanor, she quickly moved from behind the relative “safety” of the podium and addressed the audience. I am extremely interested in what a presenter does in the first two minutes of her presentation – a critical time period to hook your audience; or, put them to sleep.
Well, Kris nailed this critical 120 seconds of every sales call wonderfully. Of note: Body language including eye contact, placement of arms (forward), soft hand motions (a lot like the professional baseball player smoothly fielding the groundball) and stance (not cowering like she didn’t want to be up there; rather that she just knew her information would be compelling to us…). So the first two minutes went well, but could she keep it up? I was inwardly cheering her on. I wanted her to succeed.
And, did she ever!
The pace, energy and fluidity of the first two minutes continued throughout the entire presentation. At approximately the 15 minute mark, I looked down at my notes; I had written four words: Energy / Projection / Knowledge / Enthusiasm, as I wanted to capture the essence of this tour-de-force. She stayed positioned in front of the podium the entire time; with no reference to notes, instead working masterfully off the slides being projected on the screen.
After she finished, I eagerly approached her because this is the kind of stuff I love. I wanted to analyze not the information she presented on, but rather her presentation technique. I asked her what she did to prepare – over-and-above being an expert in her field, of course. In my consultancy I stress the importance of preparation, execution and debrief. So I was particularly interested to find out how she prepared for such a high level of performance. In response to my saying, you must have role-played and rehearsed this a couple of times, she replied “No, not a couple of times; ten times.”
All the hard work paid off and resulted in a masterful performance for her…and a great learning experience for all of us. Way to go Kris!
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